Gay Mitchell, at 5%, was the candidate people would least like to invite for dinner.

Another poll this morning - this time for Ipsos MRBI - put Michael D Higgins on 23%, Seán Gallagher on 20% and Martin McGuinness on 19%.

Mary Davis was at 12%, David Norris on 11%, Gay Mitchell on 9% and Dana Rosemary Scallon on 6%.

That poll was carried out after the initial debates between the candidates on radio and television.

David Norris has blamed the publicity he has received for the drop off in his support in the two most recent opinion polls.

Canvassing in Tallaght this evening, Senator Norris pointed to the large number of articles about him in the media and said: "Most of it is untrue, lots of it is misinformation and some of it is right".

He said he had held a meeting with his team after hearing of the poll results and would be redoubling his efforts on the campaign trail.